On this day in 1999, singer-guitarist Mike Kinsella, guitarist Steve Holmes and drummer Steve Lamos released their eponymous debut album as American Football. For nearly 17 years, it was the band’s only full length release.
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“We finished the whole [album] in a week and broke up” said Holmes. “No press, no record release show, no supporting tour or anything. Like a lot of punk and indie records, it was a document of a band that no longer existed. The three of us planned on never playing together again until the reunion.
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While not huge at the time of its release, LP1 (as it came to be known by fans) eventually amassed a large and devoted fanbase. “I just thought the record kept selling because Mike played in Owen and his fans were buying it” said Holmes. “I didn’t realize that it was really popular until the reissue. I didn’t know it had its own notoriety.”
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Why has the album continued to grow in popularity? Kinsella has an idea: “My theory is that the album speaks to younger people. I think for teenagers or those in transition years, that’s the target for that album… I think what happened was initially some people heard the record and liked it. In the past ten years, those people grew up and write for blogs. Now they have these influential positions.”
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Maybe the real reason is that it’s a great album (and it’s hard to top “Never Meant” as an opening track).
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Happy 20th!

OMG SO I JUST LISTENED TO LOUIS PERFORMANCE ON CCME 😍
and louis new songs are all so good and they scream all larry and also the other songs he performed sound so good 🤤look at @iseeyoularrystylinson or some page to know why they are larry 😂😍i love too young and don't let it break so much and habits and defenceless are also SO GOOD🙆🏼‍♀️
also liams performance yesterday was so good and the lilo content we got😍 directioners got so much content in the last few weeks and i love it 😍